I remember one time at a service
at 13th Street when Brother Mahan was the pastor, the congregation
sang that hymn. And he got up and said, I wonder
how many of us really believe, false and full of sin I am, Thou
art full of truth and grace. Just and holy is thy name. I am all unrighteousness. I wonder how much I really believe
that about myself. Acts chapter 17. I've entitled this message the noble
Bereans. We read in verse 11, these people
from Berea, just a side note, that's what
Berea, Kentucky is named after, and this is what Berea College
is named after. If they search the scriptures,
whether these things be so, they're aptly named, if they did that.
Maybe at one time they did, I don't know, but there are several cities
in the United States, small towns called Berea, and they have given
themselves that name because of this passage of scripture,
the noble Bereans. These, these Bereans, were more
noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word
with all readiness of mind. And they did not believe this
simply because Paul stood up and preached this. They searched
the scriptures daily whether these things were so. I like that wording, whether
these things were so. Somebody says, well, that's deep.
Well, it's so. It's so. That's the issue. What sayeth the scriptures? Now the word noble is usually
used in a negative sense in the scriptures. Remember when Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 1, not many wise, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. Not many. There is a sense of arrogance
and entitlement that's associated with this word noble. Noble born. A sense of entitlement,
look who I've been born, how I've been born, what family I've
been born in. But here it's given a positive
meaning. Not an empty word, but a positive
meaning. The Bereans were more noble than
they at Thessalonica. The folks at Thessalonica ran
Paul out of town. Well, Paul ended up getting ran
out of town here as well. He flees to Athens, and that's
where he brings that memorial message in Athens, or Athens,
however you say it. I don't know, how are you supposed
to say it? I always say Athens, Kentucky,
but somebody told me recently it's Athens, okay. Versailles
is Versailles. There's all kinds of different
things like that. We're from Kentucky, come on. But this nobility
was in that they received the word. with all readiness of mind,
with all eagerness, with all willingness, with all zeal, with
all openness of mind, they received the Word. Now, the first thing
that I think of is, what is the Word they received? Well, it's
the Word of God. It's the gospel message. It's
the same thing that happened, look in verse two of the same
chapter, and Paul, as his manner was, this is the way Paul operated. Everywhere he went where there
was a synagogue, he came with this message. And Paul, as his
manner was, went unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with
them out of the scriptures, the only authority, opening and alleging. that Christ must needs have suffered. Now let me stop. We considered
this last week. He was talking about the Old
Testament Messiah, a concept that they were all familiar with.
Everybody was looking for the Messiah. And he says, the Messiah
that you're all looking for that's gonna be a political ruler and
that's gonna bring the Jews back into power and world dominance,
that's the wrong one. The Christ must needs suffer. not establish a powerful kingdom,
a political kingdom where the Jews are once again the rulers
of the world. But he's going to come here to
suffer. He must need suffer. He must need suffer because God
purposed him to suffer. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He must need suffer because he
bore the sin of his people. And there was a divine necessity
in him suffering under the wrath of God because of that. He suffered
because he's guilty. Now remember this, Christ was
not innocent when he died on Calvary's tree. It wasn't an
innocent man dying. God never slays an innocent man. He took the sins of his people
in his own body on the tree and suffered and died bearing the
consequence of sin. But he was raised from the dead.
Why? Because that was God's purpose.
Why? Because he completely satisfied
the justice of God and put those sins away, and the justice and
law of God demanded that he be raised from the dead. Death couldn't
hold him. Now, these Bereans heard this
message. They heard it. But what was their
response in hearing the word of God? These were more noble
than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with
all readiness of mind, with eagerness, with a willing mind. Now, what
does it mean to receive the word with readiness of mind or open-mindedness
or a willing mind? When Paul spoke in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4, he said, seeing we have this ministry as we've received
mercy, we think not, but have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not handling the word of God deceitfully. Now, we handle the word of God
deceitfully. If we don't go to the scriptures
to find out what to believe, But if we go to the Scriptures
to prove what we already believe, that is a handling of the Word
of God deceitfully. That's using the Scriptures for
our own end and for our own gain. And that's a fearful place to
be. And these men didn't use the Scriptures deceitfully. They were searching the scriptures
to find out what to believe, not to prove what they already
believed. They were using the scriptures to find out what to
believe. Do you have that attitude about
the Bible? You know, if I'm not deceived, if I'm not deceived,
and I need to say that because anything I say about myself,
there's always a little question mark about it. But if I'm not
deceived, I stand under the word of God. Not over it, under it. And I look to the word as to
what to believe. If I'm not deceived, that's my
attitude. I go to the word of God to find
out what to believe. And I pray that that's the attitude
of every single one of us. That we would be like these noble
Bereans receiving the word with all readiness. with all willingness
of mind, and I love the way it says they searched the scriptures
daily. They didn't believe something just because Paul said it. They
searched the scriptures. They had this belief in the authority
of the divine word. They searched the scriptures
daily whether these things were so, and they received the word. Now, let's talk a moment about
the word. You know that's referring to
the scriptures. The word of God is Genesis 1.1
through Revelation 22.1. But you can stand for the authority
of the scriptures and never preach the word, never believe the word,
never even hear the word. The word is the divine message,
a message inspired by God. Now if this message that I'm
preaching right now is not inspired by God, it'll do no good. It's a waste of time for me.
It's a waste of time for you. As a matter of fact, it's positively
damaging. I don't want to be hearing a message that doesn't
come from the Lord. It's a message from the Lord.
That's what preaching is. It's bringing a word from God,
but it's from the word. It's not the preacher's opinion.
It's from the word, the scriptures that reveal the living word of
God. Jesus Christ Himself is the Word
of God. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, a distinct
person from the Father, and the Word was God. The same was, eternally, infinitely,
the same was. I am that I am, the same was
in the beginning with God. Now, in this thing of preaching
the word, there, I said this recently, this book's a big book. It was written by over 35 authors.
It took over 15, 1,300 years to write. Men from those
different times used their personalities, their thought processes. These
were men who wrote it. And it's inspired by God. It
has many, many, many doctrines, which make the one doctrine,
the doctrine of Christ. And as I said, My Bible has over
1,500 pages, Old Testament, New Testament, a lot of stuff in
that. You know, I've heard preachers sit in judgment of the Word of
God and they say, well, this is essential to believe and that's
not essential. Where does any man have the right
to make that kind of judgment? Well, I believe that's essential,
I believe that's not essential. Oh, you can stand in judgment
over God's Word and call something that He revealed non-essential? What's necessary to believe?
Everything God says, without exception. They received the
word. They received the gospel message.
Now, like I said, many doctrines, and if I leave out one doctrine
purposely, or if I add something of my own to the preaching, it's
no longer the word of God. It is a false message, but I
love the simplicity that John brings the doctrine of Christ. He calls the doctrine of Christ
this, simply this. If any spirit confesses not that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, he's not of God. He's antichrist. And you know,
in that simple statement, that It's so simple yet, and I hesitate
to use the word brilliant because you don't, brilliant with regard
to a man, it's almost like John was super brilliant and that's
how he came. I don't mean that. I don't mean that at all, but
I do mean this. This script, this statement that Jesus Christ
is coming to flesh gives everything we believe. He was before he
came. This is talking about his eternal
sonship. It's saying he's the creator.
It's saying he's the sovereign of the universe. It's saying
he's God. He was before he came. I love
it in the scriptures when it says, I came down from heaven.
That would gall those people, they would become so angry when
he would say that. I came down from heaven. And
if I said, I came down from heaven, you would have very good reason
to walk out of here and never come back again if I said that.
I was up in heaven and I came down. Well, the Lord said that. And it's true. He was before
he came. And he came in flesh. Great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He lived here in the flesh for
33 years and did what he came to do. Yes, he was made flesh,
but what did he come to do? He came to keep the law. He did
it. He did it. He honored God. He glorified
God. He came to die and he did it.
He came to accomplish salvation for his people. And He did it. The Word was made flesh. And He did what He came to do
in the flesh. He came to save His people from
their sins. They're saved from their sins. He came to have a
people that love and adore and worship Him. He did what He came
to do. Everything He came to do, He did. And that is precisely
what we believe. Now, the Word. There are several
scriptures that came to my mind when I was thinking about this,
then receiving the Word. Would you turn with me to Psalm
19? Psalm 19. Now, this passage of
scripture declares God's two books. Remember, they receive
the Word. Verse 1, Psalm 19. The heavens
declare the glory of God, and the firmament, excuse me, the
expanse showeth forth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge. God is speaking by
creation. THERE IS NO SPEECH NOR LANGUAGE
WHERE THEIR VOICE IS NOT HEARD, THE VOICE OF CREATION. I DON'T
CARE WHAT COUNTRY YOU'RE IN, I DON'T CARE WHAT CONTINENT YOU'RE
IN, I DON'T CARE WHAT TIME YOU'VE LIVED, THE CREATION HAS SOMETHING
TO SAY. THE CREATION SAYS SOMEBODY MADE
THIS, AND NOBODY MADE HIM. IT'S EVIDENT FROM CREATION. You know, I think it's interesting,
atheism, quite often very intelligent people are atheists, people that
probably have a lot higher IQ than I do. But do you know atheism
is intellectually indefensible and illogical? It just doesn't
make sense to think that all this just came through whatever
these different theories are, And it's not God that created
this. That's illogical. That's irrational. It's intellectually
indefensible. And I would not want to be, there's
just no excuse for being an atheist. And that's what Paul says in
Romans chapter one when he says the invisible things by him from
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. Everybody just from the light
of creation is rendered without excuse. You know, I'm not, you
know, there are so many supposedly educated and intelligent men
would argue other things. I'm not intimidated by it. I'm
not. I believe God made the world.
And it's obvious to all men. Now, let's go on reading. Their
line has gone out through all the earth and their words to
the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle
for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and
rejoices as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from
the end of the heaven and his circuit and to the ends of it.
And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." Talking about
the sun. Oh, creation has something to
say. God is. Now look at verse seven. Now he's going to talk about
the scriptures. The law of the Lord is perfect. You're the only perfect thing
in this physical world you have in your life right now, the scriptures. The law of the Lord is perfect.
is perfect, converting the soul. There is no salvation apart from
the word of his own will begat he us through the word of truth. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. Now, this is the Lord's testimony.
The Bible is. And you know, what I was thinking
about this is in religion. And even if I'm giving you my
personal testimony, you're not going to get the truth. You're not, I'm gonna paint things
some way to make myself look better and make myself higher
than I am. Now, I hate admitting that, but
I know it's so. And if you give me your testimony,
I'm not really gonna get the facts. That's why I really have
a thorough dislike for testimonies in religion. I'm gonna give my
testimony. I doubt it. you're going to give
me some kind of a way to make you look good and make me look
bad, and make me feel bad that I don't have your experience,
and all that foolishness that goes on. So men's testimonies,
they are what they are. But the Lord's testimony's different,
isn't it? Now this is his testimony. And what does it say with regard
to his testimony? It's sure, it's sure. Making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord. Now
that word statutes are the appointments, the decrees. Now how do we know
that God decrees something? Because the Bible says, I will
declare the decree. That's God speaking. Thou art
my son, this day have I begotten thee. Everything that happens,
he's the cause of. It's his appointment, everything. And you know what that does? The statutes of the Lord are
right. Rejoicing the heart. Now, aren't
you glad? Doesn't it make you happy? Doesn't
it rejoice your heart that the Lord is in control of everything?
Everything. The preparations of the heart
of man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. The
Lord is in control of everything. And you know, if I didn't believe
that, I'd be nervous. I'd think what's gonna happen.
I'd be fearful. But the statutes, the decrees, the appointments
of the Lord, they're all written inside and out on the Lamb's
book in Revelation chapter five. Remember that book that he came
and took the book? That's all the decrees. That's
all the appointments of the Lord. They're all right. You see, if
he does it, it's right. I don't need to understand it.
I don't understand it. But I believe whatever he does
is right. And that rejoices my heart. The commandments of the
Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. You see, it's through the
gospel that you have the light as to how God can actually look
at you and see you as holy and perfect and pure and beautiful
and without sin. The only light there is for that
is the gospel where Christ said, I'm the light of the world, how
God can be just and justify the ungodly. Verse nine, the fear
of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. Now, I love that description
of the fear of the Lord, and really, my fear of the Lord is
seen in my attitude toward this book. This is the testimony of
the Lord. This is the word of the Lord.
And if I believe the testimony of this book, I'm gonna be afraid
to look anywhere but Christ. I'm just going to be afraid to.
And the thing about this is only this is clean and it's going
to be enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. God's two books, the book of
the heavens, and this book we're looking at right now. Turn to 1 Peter 1. Verse 23,
being born again. not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever." And he quotes Isaiah chapter 40. And here's this word
of God that lives and abides forever, for all flesh is as
grass And all the glory of man as the flower of grass, the grass
withers, the flower thereof falls away, but the word of the Lord
endures forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Now let's look back at Isaiah
40 for a moment. Here's where Peter quotes this.
Verse six, the voice said, cry. Isaiah chapter 40, verse six,
the voice said, cry, cry out, cry aloud. And he said, what
shall I cry? What is it that I'm supposed
to say? What a question. Don't you want to know? What
is it that I'm supposed to cry? And God answers him. Here's what
you're to cry. All flesh is grass And all the
goodliness thereof is the flower of the field, the grass withers,
the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon
it. Surely the people is grass, the
grass withers, the flower fades. Now what is that talking about
but the weakness, the sinfulness, the depravity, the inability
of all flesh. There's one thing that stands,
the Word of God. The Word of God standeth forever. What is God going to accept on
Judgment Day? His Son, the Word. That's all
he accepts, and that's the only way you want to be found. You
don't want to be judged in any other way but simply being found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word. They received the Word with all
readiness of mind. With all willingness of mind.
First of all, they believed it to be the Word. And they received
the Word with this readiness of mind. And like I said, that's
not, well, I believe, I just somehow believe in free will.
I can go to the scriptures, and I'm gonna show you where the
scriptures teach that. Or I believe, Something that's not really what
the scripture teaches I believe something and I'm gonna go to
the Bible and I'm gonna prove what I believe and you can pull
out any scripture out of context and prove what you want to believe
if you want to And the Lord will give you just enough rope to
hang yourself if that's what you want to do. He has things
stated. If you wanted to teach that you're
saved by being baptized, I can go to several scriptures that
seem to say that. Repent and be baptized, every
one of you, for the remission of sins. Oh, well, see there,
baptism saves. Your sins are remitted through
baptism. You can teach anything you want. If you want to pull
a passage of scripture out of its context and teach it, that's
handling the Word of God deceitfully. Now, we don't go to the Word
of God like that. What does the Word teach? Paul said, preach the Word. Whatever
the Word declares, preach it. Just who God is. What does the
Word say about God? What does the Word say concerning
man? What does the Word say concerning God's salvation? Preach the Word. Now, they received the Word. with all readiness of mind, and
they searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were
so. Now let's talk about this thing
of receiving the word. Receiving the word. Amazingly,
men take even this thing of receiving the word and make a work out
of it. I remember I was talking to one
fella, and I preached the gospel to him. He said, yeah, but you
have to receive it. as if the act of reception is what saves
you. Let's say I'm on death row, murdered millions of people,
and just guilty of horrible crimes, and for some glorious reason,
the president pardons me. Well, at least I've received
that pardon. Do you actually think that there's
any merit in your receiving something? Let me tell you this. If you
have received, it's because God caused you to. And if you haven't
received, he never gave you anything in the first place. That's so. As many as received him, to them
gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them which
believe on his name, which were born, which were birthed. which were born again, which
were created, and that's what this birth is all about, which
were born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not
because a bunch of men got together and started praying for this
to happen, not of the will of man, not as an act of man's free
will, but of God. They received the word. You know, receiving the word
actually is the evidence of election. Paul said, with regard to the
Thessalonians, Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in
power, and the Holy Ghost, and much assurance. That's not talking
about assurance of your personal salvation. It's assurance that
this is the gospel. This is the word of God. Paul
said, when you receive the word which you heard from us, you
received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the
word of God, which effectually worketh in you that believe.
That's the way you received. And it's not just saying, yeah,
I see the Bible says that. It's more than that. It's what
Paul called receiving the love of the truth. Not just, well,
I got admitted, it does seem to say that. I got admitted,
I mean, that's what the word, I can't deny that, there it is.
That's not receiving the word. It's receiving the love of the
truth. You love. the God that is revealed
in this Word. You love every attribute He's
pleased to reveal concerning Himself. You love what He says
about you. That doesn't mean it makes you
comfortable, but I tell you what, when you find out you're nothing
but sin, you love knowing that, because you know to not look
to yourself for anything, but you look to Christ for everything.
You love that. You love how he saves. You love
how he saves in a way that gives Christ all the glory, because
you love him, and you see that that makes salvation sure, for
if all the glory goes to him, that means there's nothing required
of you to do. And he gets all the glory. You know, we actually
have a selfish motive in some respects in liking him getting
all the glory. Yes, we love him, but also if he gets all the glory,
that means there's nothing that is required of me to say to myself,
he did it all. And we love it that way. We receive
the love of the truth. We joyfully acknowledge the only
reason we receive the truth is a man can receive nothing. except
it be given him from above. We even know that this act of
receiving is the act of his grace upon us. He caused us to do it. John chapter 17 verse 8, the
Lord said, I've given them the words that thou has given me
and they have received them. And have known surely that thou
didst send me. They have believed that thou
hast sent me. This is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. Do you believe that God
sent his son? Do you believe that he did what
God sent him to do? And right now I'm not asking
you what you believe about yourself. Do you believe that he did what
God sent him to do? And let me ask you this. Is what he did all you have? Now, what I want desperately
for myself and for you is the nobility of the Bereans. These were more noble than they
in Thessalonica. They received the word with readiness
of mind. And they searched the scriptures
daily whether these things were so. Now, once they were satisfied,
let's go back to our text and let's close with this thought. These were more noble than those
in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness
of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were
so. Therefore, and any time you have this nobility
of spirit that's the gift of God's grace, They wouldn't have
been this way had not God caused them to be this way. And you
and I wouldn't be this way unless he causes us to be this way,
because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. For their foolishness dint him,
neither indeed can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned.
You have to be born of God. You have to be born again. You
have to be born from above to have this understanding of the
Scriptures. But where this understanding is, look in verse 12, Many of
them believed. Boy, I want that to be me, don't
you? I want to be somebody who believes. Many of them believed,
also of the honorable women which were Greeks and of men, not a
few. But when the Jews of Thessalonica, these are the people of Berea,
were more noble then, these people who heard Paul preach and did
not like what he was saying, But when the Jews of Thessalonica
had knowledge that the word of God was preached to Paul at Berea,
they came there also and stirred up the people. They got another
mob going. And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to
go, as it were, to the sea. But Silas and Timotheus abode
there still, and they conducted Paul and brought him unto Athens.
and receiving the commandment unto Silas and Timotheus, for
to come to him with all speed, they departed. And then Paul
waits in Athens for them to come, and we have one of my favorite
sermons in the book of Acts. And we're going to consider that,
Lord willing, next week. Oh, that the Lord would give
us grace to be just like these noble Bereans. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that we might be
given grace to receive your word with all readiness of mind, and that we might be enabled
to search the scriptures daily, whether these things are so. Do this for us and in us, for
Christ's sake. In His name we pray, amen.